and that I could only give him my own ideas as a single individual; which were that we were not in a condition to meddle nationally in any war; that we wished particularly to cultivate the friendship of Portugal, with whom we have an advantageous commerce. That yet a successful revolution in Brazil could not be uninteresting to us. That prospects of lucre might possibly draw numbers of individuals to their aid, and purer motives our officers, among whom are many excellent. That our citizens being free to leave their own country individually without the consent of their governments, are equally free to go to any other.

A little before I received the first letter of the Brazilian a gentleman informed me there was a Mexican in Paris, who wished to have some conversation with me. He accordingly called on me. The sub

stance of the information I drew from him was as follows. He is himself a native of Mexico, where his relations are principally. He left it at about 17 years of age, & seems now to be about 33 or 34. He classes & characterizes the inhabitants of that country as follows: 1. The natives of Old Spain, possessed of most of the offices of government, & firmly attached to it. 2. The clergy equally attached to the government. 3. The natives of Mexico, generally disposed to revolt, but without instruction, without energy, & much under the dominion of their priests. 4. The slaves, mulatto & black; the former enterprising & intelligent, the latter brave & of very important weight, into whatever scale they throw themselves; but he thinks they will side with their masters.

5. The conquered Indians, cowardly, not likely to take any side, nor important which. 6. The free Indians, brave and formidable, should they interfere, but not likely to do so, as being at a great distance. I asked him the numbers of these several classes, but he could not give them. The first he thought very inconsiderable; that the 2d formed the body of the freemen the 3d equal to the two first: the 4th to all the preceding : & as to the 5th he could form no idea of their proportion. Indeed it appeared to me that his conjectures as to the others were on loose grounds. He said he knew from good information there were 300.000 inhabitants in the city of Mexico. I was still more cautious with him than with the Brazilian, mentioning it as my private opinion (unauthorized to say a word on the subject otherwise) that a successful revolution was still at a distance with them; that I feared they must begin by enlightening & emancipating the minds of their people; that as to us, if Spain should give us advantageous terms of commerce, & remove other difficulties, it was not probable that we should relinquish certain & present advantages tho' smaller, to incertain & future ones, however great. I was led into this caution by observing that this gentleman was intimate at the Spanish Ambassador's, & that he was then at Paris, employed by Spain to settle her boundaries with France on the Pyrenees. He had much the air of candour, but that can be borrowed; so that I was not able to decide about him in my own mind.

Led by a unity of subject, & a desire to give Con

gress as general a view of the dispositions of our Southern countrymen as my information enables me, I will add an article which, old & insulated, I did not think important enough to mention at the time I received it. You will remember, Sir, that during the late war, the British papers often gave details of a rebellion in Peru. The character of those papers discredited the information. But the truth was that the insurrections were so general, that the event was long on the poise. Had Commodore Johnson, then expected on that coast, touched & landed there 2,000 men, the dominion of Spain in that country was at an end. They only wanted a point of union which this body would have constituted. Not having this, they acted without concert, & were at length subdued separately. This conflagration was quenched in blood, 200,000 souls on both sides having perished; but the remaining matter is very capable of combustion. I have this information from a person who was on the spot at the time, and whose good faith, understanding, and means of information leave no doubt of the facts. He observed however that the numbers above supposed to have perished, were on such conjectures only as he could collect.

I trouble Congress with these details, because, however distant we may be both in condition & dispositions, from taking an active part in any commotions in that country, nature has placed it too near us to make it's movements altogether indifferent to our interests or to our curiosity.

I hear of another Arret of this court increasing

vol, iv-25

the duties on foreign stockfish, & the premiums on their own, imported into their islands; but not having yet seen it I can say nothing certain on it. I am in hopes the effect of this policy will be defeated by the practice which I am told takes place on the banks of Newfoundland of putting our fish into the French fishing-boats & the parties sharing the premium, instead of ours paying the duty.

I am in hopes Mr. Short will be able to send you the medals of General Gates, by this packet. I await a general instruction as to these medals. The academies of Europe will be much pleased to receive each a set. I propose to set out the day after to morrow for Bordeaux (by the canal of Languedoc) Nantes, L'Orient & Paris.

I have the honour to be with sentiments of the most perfect esteem & respect, Sir, your most obedient & most humble servant.

TO MARTHA JEFFERSON.1

MARSEILLES, May 5th, 1787.

MY DEAR PATSEY, I got back to Aix the day before yesterday, and found there your letter of the 9th of April-from which I presume you to be well, though you do not say so. In order to exercise your geography, I will give you a detail of my journey. You must therefore take your map and trace out the following places: Dijon, Lyons, Pont St. Esprit, Nismes, Arles, St. Remis, Aix, Marseilles, Toulon,

From S. N. Randolph's Domestic Life of T. Jefferson, 120.

Hières, Fréjus, Antibes, Nice, Col de Tende, Coni, Turin, Vercelli, Milan, Pavia, Tortona, Novi, Genoa, by sea to Albenga, by land to Monaco, Nice, Antibes, Fréjus, Brignolles, Aix, and Marseilles. The day after morrow, I set out hence for Aix, Avignon, Pont du Gard, Nismes, Montpellier, Narbonne, along the canal of Languedoc to Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rochefort, Rochelle, Nantes, L'Orient, Nantes, Tours, Orleans, and Paris-where I shall arrive about the middle of June, after having travelled something upwards of a thousand leagues.

From Genoa to Aix was very fatiguing; the first two days having been at sea, and mortally sick-two more clambering the cliffs of the Apennines, sometimes on foot, sometimes on a mule, according as the path was more or less difficult-and two others travelling through the night as well as day without sleep. I am not yet rested, and shall therefore shortly give you rest by closing my letter, after mentioning that I have received a letter from your sister, which though a year old gave me great pleasure. I inclose for your perusal, as I think it will be pleasure for you also. But take care of it, and return it to me when I shall get back to Paris, for, trifling as it seems, it is precious to me.

When I left Paris I wrote to London to desire that your harpsicord might be sent during the months of April and May, so that I am in hopes it will arrive a little before I shall, and give me an opportunity of judging whether you have got the better of that want of industry which I began to fear would be the rock on which you would split. Determine never to be idle.